FOURTH TIMES' THE CHARM
by an.awesome.name
Summary: It's not that James is bad at it. It's just that well, he is bad at it. James' proposal mishaps. And the one where he kind of succeeded. *Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter*
1. Chapter 1

The first time was in their sixth year before they started dating. The entirety of Gryffindor was celebrating their win against Slytherin and thus, the fourth time in a row Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup. Sirius had snuck down into the kitchen and nicked some firewhiskey for them to drink, and eventually, James was a drunken mess.

'Oi Padfoot, do you wanna hear a secret?' James asked, in between drunken giggles.

'You can tell me anything, Prongs.' Sirius said, equally drunk.

'I wanna marry Evans.' James whispered back.

'Go for it mate, there's nothing holding you back.'

'You know what Padfoot, I should.' James said, suddenly sounding determined.

Then without warning, James jumped onto a table and yelled at the top of his lungs.

'Lily Evans, will you marry me?' The sound of their Quidditch captain's voice made nearly everyone in the common room jump.

'For Merlin's sake, James get off of there.' Remus exclaimed, not nearly as drunk as his friends.

'Nothing wrong with a bit of love, Moony!' James slurred, before promptly passing out.

0O0O0O0O0O0

The next morning James and Sirius woke up with blinding headaches and absolutely no recollection of the night before. James sat up, quickly realizing that they were the only ones left in the dorm.

'Padfoot, get up. We have breakfast to catch.'

After getting dressed, they headed down to breakfast. Since it was a Sunday, the Great Hall was relatively empty.

Approaching the Gryffindor table, they took their usual seats on either side of Remus.

'Glad to see you two aren't too hungover for breakfast.'

'Moony! Blimey, what happened last night?'

'Well, to be honest, nothing much. we were celebrating the Quidditch cup, you and Padfoot got extremely pissed, and oh yeah, you drunkenly proposed to Lily Evans.'

'Hold on a minute there, I DID WHAT?' James asked looking completely mortified.

'Like I said Prongs, we were celebrating and…' Remus said, feeling bored with the conversation.

'No, no, the other thing.' James said cutting him off.

'As I said mate, you asked Evans to marry you. Oh, and did I mention? You promptly passed out after.'

'Merlin, how drunk was I ?' He muttered, ears turning red.

'Mate, you got on a table and confessed your love for her in front of the entire common room. I would say you were pretty drunk.'

'_How will I ever live this down?' _ He thought to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

The second time was right after their graduation from Hogwarts. James had planned to ask her while they were on the boat riding back to the mainland, then he would take her out to her favorite muggle restaurant. There was just one problem. A big one. In all of James' excitement, he had forgotten one of the most crucial parts of his plan.

'That's great Prongs, buddy!' Remus clapped him hard on the back after James had told them his plans.

'Let us see the ring!' an overly eager Sirius demanded.

'What?' James asked, snapping out of his daze.'

'The ring mate, the ring.'

That was when James realized, in all his excitement and nervousness, that he had in fact, forgotten one very crucial part to his plan.

The ring.

'I don't have a ring!' James realized, swearing.

'Of all the things you could have forgotten, you forgot the ring?' Remus said in disbelief.

'Oh Merlin's beard, what am I going to do now?' James said, clearly pissed at himself.

'What am I gonna do now?' James groaned.

'Just take her out, have a nice dinner. I'm sure you two will have fun.' Remus said thoughtfully.

'And who knows, you might even get lucky.' Sirius added as an afterthought, which gained him a smack from his best friend.

'Am I ever going to get this right?' James mumbled.

'Relax mate, don't be so dramatic. It's not like you're facing impending doom or anything, we haven't had a dark wizard since Grindelwald!' he added jokingly.

That night, the young couple did go out and have fun. They got home, exhausted. They lay in bed curled up next to each other, and that cuddling lead to kissing and that kissing lead to - well, you can guess what that lead to.


	3. Chapter 3

The third time, James was sure he had it right. He had bought Lily a beautiful ring made with the finest goblin-wrought silver galleons could buy. He had prepared, with Andromeda's help, a delicious candlelit dinner for the two of them. Lily came home that night, pleasantly surprised at the feast that awaited her. After a dessert of treacle tart, Lily's favorite, James finally plucked up the courage to pop the question.

But before he could even stand, the Floo suddenly roared to life.

The couple rushed over to the fireplace, only to see Sirius with a panicked and slightly irritated expression on his face.

'Prongs! Where the hell are you?' Sirius yelled, his normally cool voice now frantic.

'At home! Where else would I be?' James yelled back, confused.

"Don't you remember? We need to be there for Moony! The sun is about to set.'

**'James, the full moon! It's tonight' Lily said her voice rising up a few octaves.**

Lily had known about Remus' lycanthropy for quite some time now, seeing as the werewolf himself had warned her about it. Of course, Lily had been more than accepting. Which was more than any of them could have hoped for.

James' eyes widened as he remembered. The full moon! How could he have been so stupid?

'I'll be right there.' He replied automatically.

'Sorry love. I'll be home before you know it. Don't wait up for me' He said, kissing her cheek before stepping into the fire.'

'It's okay James, you go. I know Remus needs you.'

After the moon disappeared behind the clouds, and Remus was asleep, exhausted from his transformation the night before, James and Sirius sat down with some butter beers.

'Where were you last night Prongs? It's not like you to forget about something as important as last night.'

'Well, I was trying, for the third time, to propose to Lily." James said with a sigh.

'There, there mate. You'll get there eventually.'

_'I hope I do.'_ James thought to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Lily was beginning to wonder if James was ever going to propose to her. See, she had discovered the ring a few weeks ago, hidden in his sock drawer when she was sorting out the laundry.

So she took matters into her own hands. She bought a beautiful ring, set with dazzling emeralds and diamonds. That night, she would bring James to the muggle park where they had their first date.

She didn't know, that at the very same time, James had come to the same conclusion. _If not now, when?_

'Hey, Padfoot. I'm going to do it. Tonight. I'll take her to the park where we had our first date.' James said.

'That's great Prongs, best of luck to you. Hope you finally get it this time.'

Later that day, Sirius received an owl from Lily.

"Sirius,

Don't let James work late tonight. I'm bored of waiting for him to pop the question. (yes, I've seen the ring) So, I've taken matters into my own hands. Bring him to the muggle park near Godric's Hollow where we had our first date.

-Lily"

Sirius made a quick decision to not tell James about this new development. As much as Sirius trusted James, he didn't want to face Lily's wrath in the event that she found out that he had told James. He then sent an owl to Remus telling him to go to the muggle park near Godric's Hollow.

'Who was that owl for?' James asked, out of curiosity more than anything else.

'For Lily. I took the liberty of telling her to meet you at the park. Hope you don't mind me taking the liberty.' Sirius lied quickly.

'Okay then, thanks mate.' If James said with uncertainty. If he thought it was weird, he certainly didn't say anything.**  
**

0o0o0o0o0o0

'Well Pads, I'm off.' James said, a nervous jitter to his voice.

'Good luck James, hope you get it this time.' Sirius replied smiling.

_'This is gonna be so good'_ Sirius thought. The Animagus then apparated to the aforementioned park and found Remus sitting on a bench waiting for him.

'Moony, how glad am I to see you.'

'This better be good Pads, I canceled half of my lectures to come here.'

'You've always been Dumbledore's favorite. I'm sure he let you leave without a second thought. Anyways, how are things at Hogwarts?'

'As well as they could be, Snivel- I mean Severus is still the same greasy git he was back then.'

'Why are we here anyways, Pads?'

And Sirius explained James' plan to propose here and Lily planning to do the same.

'Oh wow, this is probably the greatest thing to go down in Marauder's history.' Reus said, a hint of excitement in his voice.

'Quick there they come, run!'

The Animagus then assumed his canine form and hid behind a bush. Remus ran off, pretending to be a customer in line at the chip shop.

'You wouldn't believe the day I had' Lily said, trying to make small talk. Loathe as she was to admit it, the thought of spending the rest of her life with James gave her butterflies.

'Did Fudge come in with a Murtlap on his face?' James laughed, almost choking on air.

'No, nothing of that sort, although I would love to see that. Some trickster put a hex on the Chudley Cannons, made their brooms fly backward. Half of the team were in there for broken ankles and sprained shoulders.'

From behind the bush, Sirius was growing very impatient. '_This is going to take forever.' _ He thought.

'Finally James decided that he couldn't wait anymore. He got down on one knee and asked

'Lily Evans, will you marry me?' James' heart was beating so hard, he thought it would burst out of his ribcage.

'Wait'

'_Wait? What the bloody hell did that mean?' _ James panicked. '_Is she breaking up with me?'_

He watched as she reached into her coat pocket with trembling hands. She got down on one knee and pulled out a ring.

'James Potter you insufferable toe-rag, will _you_ marry me?'

James almost fainted from surprise. His mouth moved, unable to produce sounds. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he whispered out a yes.

'Finally! I was beginning to think that we would be here forever. ' Remus said, seemingly coming from nowhere.

' Remus, what on earth are you?' James asked incredulously.

Before he could finish the thought, a huge, shaggy black dog leaped out of a bush.

dog.

'Padfoot! You, you knew about this?' James shrieked, immediately recognizing his friend's Animagus form. 'Sirius you knew James was going to do this?'

'Yep, pretty hard to keep it secret from both of you. ' Sirius said, looking rather smug.

"Congratulations to the both of you. I guess fourth time's the charm.' Sirius said.

'What? I don't understand. What's that supposed to mean?' Lily asked, looking at the three of them with a confused expression.

'That I believe, is a story for another time.' Remus said with a twinkle in his eye.


End file.
